


Bracelets

by shadowblade_tara



Series: Nyctophilia [9]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Bracelets, Humor, M/M, more so than anything else i've written, shenanigans ensue, venom likes to mess with eddie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 15:06:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16976871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowblade_tara/pseuds/shadowblade_tara
Summary: Venom takes a liking to Eddie's bracelets.  This leads to a bet, which leads to hilarity.And Eddie thoughthehad a hard time staying still.





	Bracelets

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a headcannon from @soft-venom over on Tumblr. Pretty sure this is not what they meant, but this is what came out. This is so freaking silly, I don't know what happened.

Eddie started collecting bracelets when he was about 10 years old. He had a hard time sitting still in class, and his teacher recommended giving him something to fidget with. He had, of course, locked in on a bracelet that had a charm that he could move back and forth on it. 

His dad was less than pleased to see his son wearing something so _girly_ , but his mom just pointed out that his grades had improved drastically since he had something to toy with during lectures, and Brock the elder just grumbled about it. Which, to be honest, was better than the alternative.

As he got older, he started collecting more bracelets. Some were ones that were given to him by teachers, some were Christmas gifts from his mom, and others were ones that he picked up. By the time he becomes an adult, he has five bracelets that he wears on one wrist and three that he wears on the other (originally, he wore a watch on that wrist, but falling into the bay wasn’t good for the thing). Most of them are leather with beads. He still fidgets with them occasionally, when he’s doing something that requires concentration and no other movement.

What really surprises him is Venom’s reaction to them. The symbiote has taken to toying with the bracelets themself, weaving themself around them and tying them together with their own flesh. They take great pleasure in seeing how badly tangled they can get the bracelets, and Eddie finds it rather challenging to try to untangle them. It keeps them both entertained.

Then Venom starts pretending to be a bracelet. That’s when things get hilarious.

If Eddie has issues sitting still, Venom is worse. 

“V, I think bracelets aren’t supposed to move on their own.” he says with a grin. They’re laying in bed on a Sunday morning, and Eddie holds his wrist up to his face, watching the Venom-bracelet slowly spin around his skin.

**Like moving.**

He snorts. “I know. Still, might wanna be careful of that outside. People might notice.”

**People are morons. They won’t notice.**

“Well, I’m not going to argue the first. The second, however – they might. Especially since we don’t actually want them to. Murphy’s law and all that.”

There’s a second’s pause. **We bet they won’t notice. No matter what we do.**

Eddie grins. “Are we placing wagers this morning?”

Venom manifests their face and grins at him. **“Yes. We bet only three people will notice – Anne, Dan, and Jazz.”**

Eddie can’t help but laugh at that. “Of course they’re gonna notice, they already know! All right – and I bet that more people than that will notice – including Mrs. Chen.”

Venom laughs, the sound very satisfied. **“What do we get if we win?”**

“Respect.”

**“No! Already have that. We want the chocolate covered hazelnuts.”**

Eddie mock-groans. Of course Venom would request Ferrero Rocher. They’re not too expensive, but expensive enough that Eddie doesn’t buy them often. They’re something of a special treat for the symbiote. “Okay, fine.” he says, his voice sounding put-upon but amusement broadcasting loud and clear through their bond. “I guess I can do that.”

**“What do you want if you win?”**

“I’ll figure that out later.”

/-----------/

The first test, obviously, is Dan and Anne.

They’ve met up at a reasonably priced restaurant. It’s nothing horribly fancy, but it’s fancier than anything Eddie can afford on his own. Good thing Dan said he would pay. Eddie orders a steak, rare. It’s still dead meat, but they’ve found that Venom can tolerate _bloody_ dead meat. Especially since this dead meat is warm enough for Venom to pretend like it’s alive.

The conversation is casual and relaxed, Anne and Dan talking about their various adventures at work, Eddie chiming in with the new stories he’s been poking around for his freelance gig, and Venom keeping up a running commentary on the entire conversation. It’s a good thing Eddie’s gotten used to this. Otherwise he’d look just as insane as he felt at the very beginning.

Dan’s the one who finally cracks first.

“Eddie?”

“Yeah?”

“Why is Venom pretending to be a bracelet?”

Eddie immediately cracks up laughing. The entire conversation, Venom has been working pretty damn hard at tying his bracelets into the most complicated knot they can, all while pretending to be a bracelet themself. Inside his mind, Venom starts laughing as well.

Anne grins. “Something of a bet, I take?”

“Yep.” Eddie chews another bite of steak before holding his fork up next to his collar, allowing Venom to take a bite and remain unseen. “He thinks no one but you guys will notice.”

“And you?” Dan asks.

“I think it’s only a matter of time.” Eddie retorts gamely. “Anyone ever tell you you’ve got that Dad-tone down? Those two words – you just _sound_ like you’re amused but you know you shouldn’t be, because that would only encourage bad behavior.”

“How many times have you gotten that response from your dad?” Dan shoots back, starting to laugh himself.

“My mom, actually, and too many times to count.” Eddie grins. “Well, V – that’s two down, one to go, and then it’s my turn to win this bet.”

From inside his mind, Venom purrs. **You can try.**

“One to go?” Anne asks.

Eddie shrugs. “Remember Jazz, my tattoo artist? She knows. She, uh, found herself in a sticky situation, and we helped out. Of course she made the connection.”

Anne nods. “I remember Jazz. Prue makes _the best_ mudslides.” Eddie laughs at that. Anne grins and returns to her salad. “At least we’re not the only ones looking after you idiots.”

“Hey!”

/------------/

Turns out, they don’t quite make it to the tattoo parlor before someone notices.

Eddie stops to get a newspaper from the stand (not the one in front of Mrs. Chen’s store, not anymore) and there’s a guy, wearing a suit and tie, next to him doing the same. Eddie stands there and flips through the paper, looking for anything interesting, and the man winds up actually staring at him.

Or rather, staring at his wrist.

Eddie arches an eyebrow. “Can I help you?”

“Your br-wristband is moving.”

Eddie actually rolls his eyes at that. Figures the one person who takes notice of Venom is the one who stumbles over the idea of men wearing bracelets. It reminds him way too strongly of his dad, and how hard the asshole fought the idea of his son doing _anything_ even _remotely girly._

So, in typical Eddie fashion, he decides to screw with the guy.

“So? They have a mind of their own.”

Venom chokes at that, struggling not to laugh outside the safety of Eddie’s head. The man just stares at Eddie, then returns his gaze to the bracelet. “It stopped.”

“Yeah. They don’t like attention too much. But they keep getting bored, so they start moving again. Give it time.” Eddie offers him a smile and walks off, Venom laughing hysterically in his head.

**That’s not fair!**

“Neither is what you’re doing to my bracelets, man.” Eddie lifts his wrist to examine the tangled mess. He grins. “Can you even get yourself out of that?”

**. . . . Yes.**

“Oh my God, you got yourself stuck.”

**We did not! We’re perfectly fine!**

“I am never letting you live this down. Holy shit.”

By the time they make it to Jazz’s parlor, Venom is swearing up a storm and tugging at the bracelets and Eddie is laughing almost too hard to be coherent. Thankfully, the shop is empty, and Jazz just gives him a look.

“Problems?”

Eddie holds up his wrist. “Help?”

**“We are not stuck!”**

Jazz examines the bracelets and starts laughing. “Venom, honey – this is not how you tie a proper knot. Usually, you’re not supposed to be _part of it_.”

Venom stops tugging and starts sulking. **“Eddie dared me.”**

“Not to tie yourself up, I didn’t!” Eddie flashes Jazz a grin as she starts untangling the mess. It’s made a lot easier since Venom can move parts of themself out of the way when she needs them to. “Basically we had a bet that no one who didn’t know about V would notice that my new bracelet moves.”

“And Venom decided to test that by tying knots in all the bracelets?”

“They like to fidget.”

“Not too unlike you.” Jazz retorts gamely. “There! All better. You guys are damn lucky I know how to do this.”

Eddie shakes his wrist out and gives her a hug. “Thanks, Jazz.”

“Anything for you two idiots.” 

**“Hey!”**

/-------------/

They’re on their way back home when Venom goes back to the bet. **We lost the bet.**

“Yep. Pretty soundly, I’d say.” Eddie says with a small grin. He can almost hear the pout in Venom’s voice as they continue.

**Does that mean no chocolate-covered hazelnuts?**

Eddie laughs outright at that. “Oh, I don’t know. I think I want chocolate-covered hazelnuts. After all, I did win the bet.”

Venom huffs. **Your prize is supposed to be something we can get you, Eddie. That’s the point of a bet.**

That is very true. Eddie smiles to himself as he walks over to the nearest store that sells Ferrero Rocher. Mrs. Chen doesn’t do that kind of chocolate. “How about letting me pick the TV show tonight? There’s only so many episodes of House Hunters I can stand.”

Venom pretends to consider that. **We suppose we can do that.**

Eddie buys the chocolates, and they head back to their apartment, continuing to harass each other the entire way. He supposes he could have been up front with the symbiote, but well –

Some things just don’t need to be said.

Venom knows they’ve already given Eddie everything he could have asked for.


End file.
